Cleland davis



c. DAVIS.

AERIAL ARTILLERY.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.16. I911.

Patented J My 29, 191%.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- WWI/10:0

C. DAVIS.

AERIAL AR TILLERY. APPHCATION FILED MAR. vs. \911.

1 ,3 1 1 ,791 Patented July 29,- 1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET2.

CLELAN'D DAVIS, 01? THE UNITED STATES NAVY.

AERIAL ARTILLERY.

Specification of Letters Fatent.

Patented J uly29, 1919.

' Application filed March 16, 1917. Serial No. 155,294.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OLELAND DAVIS, of

the United States Navy, a citizen of the United States, residing at Highwood, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey,

have invented certain new and useful Improyements in Aerial Artillery; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and .use the same.

My present invention relates to improvements in armed aeroplanes, and it consists in building into an aeroplane as a constituent part of'the frame thereof a non-recoil gun of a comparatively large caliber, the gun being fixed in the aeroplane and forming a rigid part to which the parts of the frame of the machine may be connected, and by which they may be stiflened, and providing means for firing the gun when it is properly pointed, the pointing being effected by steering the aeroplane in the proper direction, the line of sight being determined by suitable sighting apparatus.

According to my invention, I use a nonrecoil gun of the general type invented by me and disclosed in my U. S. Patents, Nos. 1,108,714, granted August 25, 1914, entitled Aeroplane gun, and 1,108,716, granted August 25, 1914, and entitled Apparatus for firing projectiles from aircraft, except that no breech mechanism is required, as in the latter patent just referred to, the gun being loaded at some point of supply and being transported with the aeroplane to the firing point where-it is discharged as a single shot weapon; and the aeroplane then returns again to the point of supply. Thus the gun may be used as a single shot weapon over and over again.

With guns of the ordinary type having closed breech, a certain amount of recoil is absolutely essential, and the weight of the carriage and recoil cylinders render such guns out of the question for aeroplanes when the gun becomes of large caliber. Moreover, aeroplanes will not stand the shock of the recoil in firing such guns, even with the best recoil arrangements practicable.

According to my invention, the gun is built into the-machine as an integral part of the machine itself, thus utilizing the strength and thickness of the gun to give strength and rigidity to the structure of the aeroplane; and owing to the non-recoil fea gun of'heavy caliber may befired from an aeroplane without any injury to the aeroplane itself.

My invention will bermore clearly underture described in my patents aforesaid, a I

stood after reference to the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of an aeroplane of the tractor type having two pro= pellers, and carrying a gun of heavy caliber; Fig. 2 is a side' elevation of the device shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

, 1 represents the gun barrel, which is preferably composed of a single tube of tough metal having great tensile strength and high "elasticity, such as vanadium steel. The gun barrel need not be heavy enough to give a very high initial velocity to the projectilesince it will be-firing down from above on the deck of a ship or on exposed parts of fortifications; and I have. figured that an 8 inch gun tube, Weighing approximately 3400 lbs. unloaded, or 4000 lbs. loaded, would give a velocity of between 1000 and 1500 foot seconds. f

Moreover, insomuch as the I gun would ordinarily be fired from considerable elevation, gravity would appreciably increase the velocity of the projectile.

.With such velocity, a large caliber projectile Will readily penetrate through any armored deck, or wouldbury'itself in masonry before exploding.

. This gun barrel is shown as provided with bands 2 and 3, connected by braces 4 and 5 to the frame-work'fi of tl1e'engines 7, which drive the propellers 8. The engines are shown diagrammatically, being well known in the art. 7

The gun may also be provided with other bands 9 and 10, connected by stays or braces 11 and 12 to the frame-work of the machine.

The sighting telescope 16 is mounted on the bracket 15, which may be connected to the gun in any convenient way, as by means of the band 14. While this telescope might be mounted on any other part of the framework of the machine, it is preferablyattached to the body of the gun, because the latter is very stiff and would not be subiected to the vibrations ommon to the ighter parts of the frame-work. Thus I have a rigid support for the sighting telescope, which is trunnioned to swing in a vertical plane in the usual way.

Suitable firing means should 'be provided, such for instance, as the electric firing mechanism shown in my Patent N 0. 1,108,716, already referred to, and illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 2 of this application, in which 17 is the electric battery for supplying the current to operate the electric primer, 18, the conductors and 19, the firing switch, which, when closed, will close the circuit firing the gun, if the charge be in place.

' To prevent injury to friends in the rear, the counter-weight used in the rear of the charge should preferably be composed mainly of fine bird shot, sand, or other suitable material, Which will break up in small fragments, thus preventing injury to those below other than those fired at. Such a counter-weight is described in my Patent,

N 0. 1,108,716, already referred to, and forms no part of my present invention.

In operation, the gun is loaded at some point of supply, the aeroplane is then flown to the point where it is desired to fire the gun, and it is steered so that the line of sight is in the proper direction, and the gun is fired. The projectile will give a plunging fire, and will strike the target from above, and if this target be a ship, will bore through any deck plates, or deck armor as now used on board ship, and will explode,

in the Vitals of the ship. If the projectile be aimed at a fortification, the velocity imparted to it would be more than suflicient to bore in the masonry or earthwork, and cause great damage when the explosion occurs.

It will be seen that the gun not only serves as a weapon for the aeroplane, but also serves as a main girder to materially strengthen and stiffen the structure.

While I have suggested a gun tube of 8 inch caliber, gun tubes of greater or less caliber may be used as desired.

WVhen rifled, as they should 'be, the compression slope will prevent the projectile from prematurely sliding down out of the guntube; but if made with a smooth bore, the gun tube should be provided with a stop for the projectile, such as shown in my Patent, No. 1,108,714, already referred to.

It is my purpose that these armed aeroplanes should fiy in flocks so that a large volume of fire may be secured and the chances of hitting the target would be more greatly enhanced than if a single machine were used.

. While I have shown a gun as mounted on an aeroplane for use on land, it will be obvious that it may be mounted on a hydroaeroplane, and I do not mean to limit my invention to any particular class or type of aeroplane, or to any particular caliber of gun.

It will be obvious that various modifications might be made in the herein described apparatus, and in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts which could be used without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A frame-work for aeroplanes including a non-recoil gun tube as a main girder.

2. A structure or framework for aeroplanes, including a non recoil gun forming an integral girder thereof.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature.

GLELAND DAVIS. 

